Saturday, September 27, 2008

Here we are in the exciting New Orleans!

Three years ago we came here for one night before hopping aboard our Carnival Cruise and was had the most amazing night ever. The music, the food, the smells...well, maybe we could do without the smell (YUK)...it was a great time. So we decided to come back to the famous town.

More amazing than the experience is the character this place holds. It is definitely a photographer's playground. So we are going to get some snazzy portraits or my sister, Amanda. ...so here's the first one....better ones to follow. (she's really gonna hate me for posting this one. :) Be back full force on Tuesday!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Well life and love is complete for my lovely client, Megan. I first met and photographed her and her lil man, Tyler, a year ago and it has been a pleasure ever since. She met and recently married her fabulous husband, Casey, and I can see happiness ALL over those three. Life is good.

I had to throw one in of just Megan. Isn't she STUNNING?!!! She is the essence of elegance. That dress was made for her. Tyler walked her down the isle and Megan's ring was in that little red car. How CUTE is that!This is just such a romantic angle...especially once we removed the bandaids. hehehe :)

WHAT HANDSOME GUYS! This was Megan's one and only request...when she got married, Tyler clung to her legs during her wedding vows and it was a memorable moment that was unfortunately missed by the camera. So...we redid it for that visual key to always remember that moment. Thanks, Megan & Casey, for having me out for the special picture opp and invite on the sky diving. I ran it past Matt tonight and I think he might up for it. He's like me...he'll need someone to physically push him out of the plane...but will LOVE IT!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Forgot to add this one...also one of my favorites!

Remember how I went to the AltF seminar about a month ago...well, one of the things I took away from the famous John Michael Cooper is that I should start writing down/sketching my ideas on paper so that I can remember to do them later on. Last week, I had the idea of giving one of my fun couples some bubblegum and having them compete against each other for BIGGEST BUBBLE. Cute, right?! I had my hands full at the time, so I made my husband run and find my notebook and draw it for me. ...this is his fabulous drawing and supposed to represent my idea. ...hey, I didn't marry him for his drawing abilities. :)

ahhh...amore. This is my fav shot of the session! Great Height Derek!!!! Stay bouncy...I might make you do some more exercises in your tux later on. O, how I love these old junk trucks. I refuse to let my Grandma get rid of them, just so I have something really cool to photograph. By the way, Ashley had perfectly smooth and flawless, exposed legs previous to going out to the land. I think she ended our session with 3 or 4 dozen chigger/mosquito bites. I am soooooo sorry. And what's one of my sessions without a little risk? This took a couple of tries...87th Street (west of 1-435) is a main road and plenty busy. And those people though they only had to worry about hitting deer. HA! After I promised I was finished about 5 times...I forgot I wanted this one last shot. So this actually was my last promised finish. Wahoo! This is their "The Personality Shot". Ashley told me that ever since they started dating, this is has been Derek's pose of choice. I told her she should have a huge collage at her wedding sign-in table with all the pictures of him doing this. How cute is that! Thanks Derek and Ashley for braving busy roads, putting up with non-blowable-gum, and being eaten alive. Anything for the right shot, right?! Hopefully your wedding will be less painful. :)

Monday, September 22, 2008

This was definitely no ordinary senior portrait session. Normally, I have to coach myself not to act too stupidly, giddy when a super-creative session presents itself...but I fear I failed. The whole session was too much fun. *Sorry David...hope I didn't scare you*

Elizabeth (David's mom) helped me out by describing David to me before the session, so I decided to take them somewhere completely new to me for a session....Zona Rosa (right in my neighborhood even). It was like a photographer's playground. I couldn't have asked for a better time, better weather, better senior, or better location.

Did I mention Elizabeth came drunk? ....just kidding. I warned her I was going to make fun of her. She did this nice little stunt while backing up off a curb. Broke the Valet sign. HA! Lucky for her I was ready with my camera. My poor clients...instead of running to their aid, I take pictures of a fall. And if you're curious, that's just an energy drink in her hand (no booze). I LOVE YOU ELIZABETH! ...and your whole family too!

Not that he will admit it, but he definitely has that model look to his face. SO HANDSOME!

I had way too many construction site pictures that came out so good, but I decided to limit it to this one. I love the bursts of color in his clothing. And this is what I like to call "The Personality Shot". Whenever possible, I really like at least one picture to really represent the subject. I gave David some time to think about it and he decided on a little ICP flavor. So...after a quick trip to the Halloween section of CVS, I painted him up and got him all ready for round two. The elevator wouldn't let us keep the door open for a few pictures (I know, how rude!), so we all had to pile in. I think this is my absolute FAVORITE shot from the whole session. What is it with me and elevators? I swear.Thanks David. You are amazing. Can't wait to show off the rest...I think you'll like em' mucho much....you little wally-world-scoundrel. ;)

Whoa...I think this has been the longest I've been without posting something to my blog. It has been a really crazy past month. Where do I begin? Well, I have really really long stories, but those who know me well are the only ones I subject them to (sorry friends and family...you still love me, right?). Sooo here's a condensed version. A few weeks ago I had my house phone/fax machine, my internet/network drivers on computer, my processing speed on my computer, my big screen TV, and one of my SLR cameras go bad on me all in one week. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! So to try and rectify the situation, I done made myself broke getting all new goodies. ....but wait...money can't solve all problems. I started with the most important purchase item....a new computer. After dumping a ton of $$$ on the biggest, fastest iMac available...I discovered the world of "Monitor Color Calibration". OH MY GOD! I have been embarrassingly fortune over the past several years working on a huge, hunky, piece of stone-age CRT monitor, which just happens to be 100% accurate on color for photo editing. After spending an ENTIRE DAY (breakfast till midnight snack) trying to calibrate the fancy new iMac, I found out that it is impossible to reach 100% color accuracy. ERRRRR!!! *as I tear my hair out after spending all that green $$$* The next day I ordered a big, fancy (oh, yeah...and expensive) new Professional grade color accurate LCD monitor...but as usual, money doesn't solve everything...turns out they are backordered for a few weeks.

hummmm....well, so maybe that was the medium-length version. Sorry, get carried away. Point being...I have gone from a little-behind to Mega-behind on photo editing. YIKES! Working on my old PC has been a test of patience...now that it has been running about 4x slower than it did last month. Good news came today, though. My new monitor was shipped out and should be here by Thursday. So starting next week, I should be knocking some work out left and right. Hold on to your seats boys and girls. WWWAAAHHHOOOO!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Check this out!!!! Abigail does this crazy leg-locking thing...so Jake likes to freak people out by holding her like this. They've created their own little circus act. :)

These cousins are someday really going to hate their parents for having so many naked-baby pictures of them. Babies can go green too. I spoted a Lion on my photography safari. :)

Just in case anyone recognizes this couple...this is Jake and Kristin, my beautiful Mexico Bride and Groom from last year. And this is my official marketer, Karen, and her family...Jason, Christian, & Cameron. I love them all her Karen's WHOLE family. I feel sooooo lucky to have met her years ago at JCCC.

I met Allison earlier this summer and have fallen in love with her and her family. I should say it's a love hate thing...I love Allison, but I hate how perfect she is. This chic has the best genes on the planet. Who really looks like this pregnant? really! Can anyone guess her age?

I asked them how big they thought the baby was in their mommy's tummy... I think this is my FAV shot! How cute is this!?! Here's my BB hard at work. Thanks Honey!I snapped this shot of them sneaking a little love-action when they thought I wasn't looking.

This is a cute shot of Richard and his boys. He really is creating his own small army of boys...the baby on the way is a boy too. This awesome pic was actually Richards idea...how cool is this! It's a long exposure shot...that took a bit of practice, but it is really neat how it captures the motion.